Akiko Iimura

Akiko Iimura is a writer, translator and filmmaker who has spent much of her life in New York. After graduating from Waseda University, she became the editor-in-chief of New York's Japanese-language newspaper OCS News from 1982-1995. In the early 1970s she was an active reporter on and translator of the New York underground scene for both Bijutsu techō and Eiga hihyō. She was also instrumental in translating the writings of Jonas Mekas into Japanese, including Movie Journal: The Rise of the New American Cinema, 1959-1971 and I Had Nowhere to Go.

Iimura was the spouse of Takahiko Iimura (1937-2022), with whom she collaborated on several projects, including Blinking (1970), Double Portrait (1973-87) and I Love You (1973-87). Her own film works include Mon Petit Album (1973), a poetic film set to the music of Jacques Bekaert, and Late Lunch (1985).